Columbus, OH - June 6, 2001 - Ohio businesses facing the challenges of keeping pace with constantly changing technology will soon have a solution. With the financial support of the Ohio Technology Action Fund and other organizations, Platform Lab, a software testing and development facility, has announced that advanced scheduling is available to organizations and businesses.

Governor Taft's Technology Action Board has granted OSC (Ohio Supercomputer Center) and the Business Technology Center (BTC) $255,000 to create Platform Lab, a leading-edge shared software testing and development facility. Additional community support is being provided by Ohio's IT Alliance, an Edison network supporting state information technology growth, to help create this technology resource.

Platform Lab will help address the challenges facing many Ohio companies needing affordable access to rapidly changing information technologies. The Lab will offer cost-effective access to technology resources and knowledge that is crucial for software developers to provide high quality products in today's evolving markets.

This technical resource facility, located in the renovated Business Technology Center on Kinnear Road, will support Ohio's information technology industry by bringing together the crucial elements of hardware, software, expertise, and space for software research, development and testing.

Dr. Eric Stahlberg, Platform Lab project leader, said, "The key to Platform Lab's success is that it's a community effort, providing convenient access to critical components for software testing and development. We're continuing to work with an expanding list of supporting partners to create a readily accessible development environment."

OSC will provide operational support and build upon existing vendor relationships to bring hardware, software and know-how to the lab. The BTC will complete the offering by providing business development support for the lab and state-of-the-art facilities in their newly remodeled space.

"Market research has verified a need for the resources provided by this facility. Central Ohio organizations, including software users and developers, need to minimize disrupting of internal systems for testing and gain access to evolving technologies at an efficient cost," said Steve Clark, BTC Director of Information Technology. "The BTC has allocated 2,400 square feet of new space specifically designed for Platform Lab. The space is highly configurable, secure and accessible 24 x 7."

Platform Lab will offer companies secure networks and physical access to the site, as well as software and hardware to support development and product testing. Expertise in predominant software development areas such as quality assurance, project management, database integration, database optimization, and security and legacy system integration will also be available.

Expected by Autumn 2001, Platform Lab will be available for use by start-up and existing companies and organizations, for as little as one to several weeks at a time. A website with more information is available at www.platformlab.org

About OSC OSC is Ohio's flagship center for high performance computing, networking, educational outreach, and information technology. OSC empowers our academic, industrial, and government partners to make Ohio the education and technology State of the future.

About BTC BTC, a technology business incubator, provides a unique partnership of public, private and internal resources focused on creating and accelerating the growth of scalable and invest-able businesses. The BTC provides business acceleration services to early stage companies commercializing new products in Information Technology, Life Science, or Advanced Materials. The BTC offers an environment conducive to the development of sustainable growth businesses, including workspace, business and technical services, and strategic business guidance. BTC's industry partners provide access to more than 100 local technology leaders and services.